


see my other side

by yeswayappianway



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Podfic Available, Post-Under the Red Hood, origin story for jason's bat logo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23473861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeswayappianway/pseuds/yeswayappianway
Summary: “Hey, kid,” Jason said. “It’s okay. Your dad’s gonna need to go to the hospital, but he’ll be fine.”The kid shrunk back from him, her eyes somehow even wider and more panicked than before.Shit.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 129





	see my other side

**Author's Note:**

> i posted this fic on tumblr... last week? anyway, if you saw it there - yes, this is the same, i haven't changed anything.
> 
> title from Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone

“Finally,” Jason muttered to himself. The last of the mob thugs was down, knocked out and sprawled across the body of the other two. It meant Jason wouldn’t be able to keep tailing them for info, but sometimes you had to cut your losses.

A small sob echoed in the now-silent alley. Sometimes, it wasn’t worth letting things play out, even if it was in your favor. Jason looked around for the source of the noise.

Behind the dumpster, he found it. A kid, desperately clamping her hand over her own mouth even as tears streamed down her face.

“Hey, kid,” Jason said. “It’s okay. Your dad’s gonna need to go to the hospital, but he’ll be fine.”

The kid shrunk back from him, her eyes somehow even wider and more panicked than before.

Shit.

“It’s okay,” he tried to reassure her again. “I’m here to help. Come on, I’ll take you to your dad, and then you can wait with him for the ambulance.”

She shook her head wildly. Her voice was hoarse as she whispered, “No, no, get away.”

“Kid, I’m trying to help,” Jason said. He was trying to keep the irritation out of his voice, and he hoped that the mechanical edge the hood gave him would cover it anyway.

“I don’t…” She took a huge, shaky breath. “I don’t trust you. You hurt them, you could hurt me. Did you hurt my dad?”

Jason ground his teeth together. He didn’t have time for this. The police would show up any minute now. Why wouldn’t she just let him help? “I didn’t hurt your dad, but those men did. I told you, he’ll be okay, he just needs to go to the hospital. I can bring you out to him.”

She didn’t move.

“I promise,” he said, trying to dredge up the long-buried memory of Bruce’s instructions for talking to victims. Jason crouched down, but didn’t move toward her. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I know I scared you, but I’m trying to help. We gotta get help for your dad, but I can’t do that until you come out from back there. No one else is going to get hurt,” he added.

“If you’re helping, why are you hiding?” she said, pointing at his head. At the helmet, he realized.

Jason said the first thing that came into his head. “Batman hides his face. But he helps people.”

The girl rolled her eyes, the first reaction he’d seen from her other than terror. “You’re not Batman.”

“I could be!” Jason said, trying to sound offended. Maybe if he got her to focus on that, she would come with him. “How do you know I’m not Batman?”

“You don’t have a bat,” she said slowly. The girl was looking at his chest. Jason grimaced under the hood. No, he didn’t have a bat, for oh so many reasons. Still, getting her back to her dad was infinitely more important than Jason’s feelings.

“What about Robin? He doesn’t have a bat,” Jason pointed out, scooting back a bit. The girl slowly stood up. She was shaking, but she didn’t go back down immediately.

“You’re not Robin,” she said scornfully, taking a few careful steps toward him and away from the dumpster.

No, Jason thought. No, he wasn’t. Somehow, it hurt a little to hear anyway.

Jason stood up, taking care to back away from her as he did. He didn’t want to loom over her, and it took him closer to the girl’s dad, who was passed out at the mouth of the alley. Jason glanced back at the man. “I’m just saying,” he turned back to the girl. “Robin doesn’t have a bat.”

“Robin doesn’t need one,” she declared. She flinched at the sight of the pile of men, but Jason didn’t think there was any way he could have avoided that one. “He’s bright colored. That’s not scary.”

“So if I had a bat, I wouldn’t be scary?” Jason asked. They were almost out of the alley now, and Jason could hear sirens getting closer.

She was walking a little more steadily now. “Batman’s still _scary_ ,” she said. “But he has the bat, so you know he’s good anyway.” The girl gasped then, and ran over to her dad.

“I’m calling an ambulance right now, okay?” Jason said, backing away. “Can you stay with your dad until the police come? You can hear them, right? They’re almost here.”

She nodded, looking up at him. Jason turned away and pulled out his phone. He didn’t have access to Oracle’s network, but he knew how to contact her anyway. He sent a message: _emergency. ambulance needed. 34th and Scott st._

Jason turned back. “Good girl.” Jason didn’t want to leave her, but he also couldn’t risk the police spotting him. It was too soon after—after everything. He needed to stay under the radar. “They’ll be here any minute, okay? Keep an eye on your dad. He might—” Jason swallowed, throat suddenly dry. “He’ll be glad to see you if he wakes up, and if not, you can tell the police you helped him.”

The girl didn’t look back up at him, all of her focus on her unconscious father.

Jason left, scrambling up a fire escape in the alley, and making his way across town over the roofs.

\-----

“Batman, I think you need to see this,” Oracle’s computerized voice comes through the computer crisply.

“See what?” he asks, focusing on the report he’s pouring through. Crane had used a new toxin the last time he escaped, and they’d barely made it back to the cave in time. Bruce needed to synthesise a new antidote before he got out again.

“This,” he hears, and then the largest of the computer’s monitors is being taken up with a grainy still clearly lifted off a security camera. It’s the Red Hood. He seems to be in the middle of punching someone, although Bruce can’t tell who the victim is. Bruce still isn’t sure what the point of showing him this is, although by the collapsing feeling in his chest, he knows what the outcome will be. It’s fine. He doesn’t sleep well most days now.

“Look at his chest,” Oracle says, impatience showing through. Bruce looks again and realizes what he’s missed.

There, splashed across Jason’s chest, is a bat.

\-----

Jason is almost home when he hears it. It’s almost nothing, just light footsteps. It could almost be anyone casually walking behind him, except that Jason is five stories up and most people, even in Gotham, don’t casually go for a stroll on the rooftops.

“What do you want?” he growls without turning around. He’s not sure who exactly it is, but Bruce’s footsteps are heavier than the ones he can hear, so he’s willing to talk.

“Not to pass judgement too quick,” Dick drawls. “But even _I_ ditched the bat logos the second I could, and I didn’t have nearly the explosive homecoming you did. So what’s up?”

Of course one of them would ask. Jason’s been wearing the bat in Gotham for a few weeks now, it was only a matter of time. He supposes, as choices go, Dick isn’t the worst option. Jason turns back to face him.

“None of your business,” he says and punctuates it by crossing his arms.

Dick shrugs and perches on the edge of the roof. “Nah, it really isn’t. But it’s B’s, and I thought you might rather talk to me than him. He’s not pleased about it,” Dick warns. Jason is equal parts irritated and pleased that Dick’s thought process seems to be the same as his.

“I…” Jason trails off. He wants to bullshit, wants to throw Dick off, rile him up and get him to storm off and leave him alone, but at the same time… Jason’s done plenty of things Bruce doesn’t approve of, but this isn’t one of them, and it stings a little thinking that Bruce is blaming him for doing something even Bruce would consider good. “Kids don’t trust a strange man in a helmet. They trust Batman, though.”

Dick’s face does something complicated and emotional. Jason doesn’t try to pick it apart. He’s afraid of what he might find. “That makes sense,” is all Dick says. “I’ll tell B to back off.”

Jason nods. He’s not going to say thank you. Turning, he’s got one foot on the edge of the roof and his grapple out when Dick speaks up again.

“I know you don’t want to deal with us, and that’s your right, but… I’m not him, and if you ever want some backup, don’t be afraid to call me.” He sounds earnest, but then again, Dick always does.

Still.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Jason says, and leaps off before his voice can give him away.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic is part of me thinking about how you could emotionally get jason and the batfam from the end of under the red hood to a place where jason is at least tentatively part of the family again. it was also because i was wondering what the canon reason is that jason starts wearing a bat, but then i realized i probably don't want to know dc's reasoning lol
> 
> feel free to come hang out in the comments and talk to me about jason or anything else!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] see my other side](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23510035) by [frecklebombfic (frecklebomb)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frecklebomb/pseuds/frecklebombfic)




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